A tweet from Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, criticizing the arrest of Saudi women’s rights activists, has sparked diplomatic retaliations from the Saudi Arabian government.
Following Saudi Arabia’s decision to expel Canada’s ambassador over Freeland’s tweet, the minister released a statement saying, “We are deeply concerned that Saudi Arabia has expelled Canada’s ambassador in response to Canadian statements in defence of human rights activists detained in the kingdom.”
Among the retaliations is the Saudi government’s decision to pull all students studying in Canada under the King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP), which covers tuition fees, health insurance, language classes, and a monthly stipend for living expenses.
According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s website, there were 8,310 Saudi students enrolled in Canadian post-secondary schools from January to May 2018.
A Saudi student at Carleton University, who wished to be identified by his last name only, said he had a lot of questions about what’s going to happen to him. Harthi, a computer science student on the KASP scholarship, said the Saudi Arabian Culture Bureau (SACB)—an official representative of the Ministry of Education, Saudi universities, and all other government agencies that sponsored Saudi students in Canada—held a forum recently to answer the questions students had.
He said they were told by SACB that students on scholarships must find another country to study in if they want to keep their scholarship.
“You’re not forced [to leave]. If you want to stay and continue your studies on your own money, you’re fine . . . but the government will not invest one dollar in any Canadian university—it was clear,” Harthi said.
He said they were given the option to choose from 11 different countries to study in, and he has been applying to many universities since.
Considering he was set to graduate in April 2019, Harthi said he’s disappointed because this decision will create a “hiccup” in his university career, as any school he chooses to attend will only place him at the second-year level.
He said he’s not sad because he’s not going to be studying in Canada anymore, but more so that he’s leaving his friends behind.
“It’s almost like I’ve lived the life here . . . a lot of friends, a lot of memories, a lot of experiences—that’s the sad part,” Harthi said.
But, he said he considers himself one of the people least affected by this decision, noting others in their master’s and PhD candidacies who need to pick up and leave.
“Even though I am the least [affected], I feel like it’s my duty to at least sacrifice this (his education) for my country,” Harthi added.
While he said he respects Canada for supporting and defending human rights, he said tweeting wasn’t a “diplomatic way of communication.”
Harthi is only one of about 16,000 Saudi students who are currently studying in Canada, according to the University of Toronto’s (U of T) website.
The U of T put out a statement saying it’s working to help students affected by the decision.
According to the statement, there are 216 post-graduate medical trainees (residents and fellows) from Saudi Arabia who are at the U of T.
“Our focus right now is on our medical residents and fellows, who are valuable members of our academic hospital community,” said Salvatore Spadafora, vice-dean of post-MD education at the Faculty of Medicine in the statement. “This will be difficult for them and their families, and we want to try as best we can to minimize disruption.”
Photo by Aaron Hemens
